Severe hailstorms that hit the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand in mid-May have caused damage of around NZ$10m, slightly under initial estimates made in the aftermath.
A full assessment of the damage could not be made until bruising showed up on the affected kiwifruit, which can take a few days after being initially hit.
'It might be a little bit lower than the estimate, but it's in that general ballpark,' Kiwifruit Growers Inc. president Peter Ombler told the Bay of Plenty Times. 'The industry's battled its way through. It's been quite difficult, but by and large everybody's applied their mind to it and done as well as they could in the circumstances.'
He added that the size and unexpected nature of the storm had taken the industry by surprise, with the hail policy set aside not large enough to cover all the damages.
Mr Ombler also warned of the occurrence of further storms, which he sees as a result of climate change.
'I've been growing for 30-odd years and I've never seen it, and I've spoken to people growing even longer than me and they haven't seen it either,' he said. 'It's unusual, but you can't count on it being a once in a lifetime event – with climate change, weather patterns are a bit more unstable.'
Damage claims as a result of the storms are expected to top NZ$5m, according to the Bay of Plenty Times, with crop damage heading the list.
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